Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I promise, I've exhausted my repertoire of San Francisco song lyrics now...

Day two in San Francisco turned out to be the most stunning weather. Clear and cool, with a wee bit of wind to keep one on one's toes, it made for an amazing day of sightseeing. Not to mention fantastic photos.

David was our tour guide again, and he didn't let us down on day two. We started with breakfast at the delightfully named Squat and Gobble, famous for it's crepes. They were good, mighty good. A bit of a browse around the fun shops in the area of West... (where I fell in love with a pink paisley laptop bag that was sadly out of my budget and I'm still pining for it) and then back into the car to head out to Pier 39. (Which I forgot to mention we had done some shopping at the night before).

David took us through Castro, the well known gay and lesbian district of San Francisco. It's a colourful, open, funky and clearly very accepting neighbourhood. Possibly one of the biggest flags I have ever seen dominates the area, and it looks magnificent:

And I have an artistic shot taken out of the window of the moving car:

Once at Pier 39, we found that we could take an hour long ferry tour around San Francisco Bay for just $21 each. Well worth the money, even if the recorded voiceover is mega, mega cheesy. I think it was supposed to be Captain Nemo, but it was just Captain Pathetic! But we tuned it out and generally just watched the sights of San Francisco from the open top deck of the ferry.

Alcatraz:

The Golden Gate Bridge:

The seals that have made the pontoons at Pier 39 their home:

Once back on dry land, it was time for some souvenir shopping (you all know me and my postcard habit) and a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream before heading back to the flat that Jacquelline shares with David and Manon. But on our way, David took us via these beautiful houses, that you may recognise:

Of which my favourite was this one:

And the ones in a nearby street were just as pretty, I liked this one best:

The black house to the left was for sale... anyone want to go in with me to buy it as a holiday home?

And also via the City Hall building, which is pretty spectacular too:

Once we got back to Pacifica we took a walk along the sea front to watch the sunset, though it was so windy we couldn't walk far. But I did get a rather spectacular view, as the photos show:

We ended the evening with yet another fine Dim Sum meal! Unlike tacos, I could never get sick of Dim Sum!

Off to Florida next, the weather's likely to be markedly different down there!